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1 – 10 of over 108000In this paper, I suggest that prediction is a useful methodological strategy for evaluating political opportunities/political process models of social movements. I demonstrate the…
Abstract
In this paper, I suggest that prediction is a useful methodological strategy for evaluating political opportunities/political process models of social movements. I demonstrate the utility of this theory by analyzing the current political opportunities facing anti-war/interventionist/hegemony/imperialist movements in the contemporary United States. I conclude that the prospects for a mass movement are slim relative to previous wars but that the prospect for alliances with military elites has increased. This conclusion supports Ian Roxborough's position in a recent volume of this journal that sociologists should engage military policy makers.
This chapter will establish the two main strands of the study's theoretical framework. These strands represent the internal and external resources in the GSE case. The resource…
Abstract
This chapter will establish the two main strands of the study's theoretical framework. These strands represent the internal and external resources in the GSE case. The resource mobilisation (RM) strand refers to the internal resources of GSE, while the political opportunity structure (POS) refers to external resources. By referring to the literature on social movements particularly that which dwells on RM and the exploitation of political opportunities, the study will provide an understanding of collective action. This study investigates the campaign of an environmental movement that challenged the waste policy of the state, on the issue of incineration. As the state changed waste policy, the Galway campaign mobilised internal resources and exploited external political opportunities. The shifting nature of this opportunity structure may affect the patterns of internal mobilisation, utilisation of resources and types of networks a movement implements. Government responses to such challenges may also influence the patterns of collective action, as movements attempt to exploit the opportunities of the wider political environment.
The purpose of this study was twofold. First, the author sought to more fully understand the role of socio-political activity on opportunity recognition among experienced…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study was twofold. First, the author sought to more fully understand the role of socio-political activity on opportunity recognition among experienced entrepreneurs. Second, the author sought to better understand how socio-political activism, experience, entrepreneurial passion and social entrepreneurial intention are antecedents. Given the importance of entrepreneurship in the developing nations, there must be an understanding of how entrepreneurs recognize opportunities.
Design/methodology/approach
This study analyzes how socio-political activism acts as a foundation on which entrepreneurs can recognize opportunity through entrepreneurial passion, experience and intention. The author utilized a survey constructed of a unique combination of existing and well-researched instruments. Entrepreneurs living in Latin America were surveyed through the web-based survey company Prolific(R). Based on an a priori power calculation, the survey was fielded to 305 respondents with a 100% response rate.
Findings
The model suggests that socio-political activism increases experience, entrepreneurial passion and social entrepreneurial intention among entrepreneurs in Latin America. Further, the model indicates that entrepreneurial passion and entrepreneurial experience have partial mediation effects on social entrepreneurial opportunity recognition, while social entrepreneurial intention has full mediation effects on social entrepreneurial opportunity recognition.
Practical implications
The findings of this model suggest that socio-political activism in the developing context provides a model that shows how political activism plays a crucial role in numerous entrepreneurial aspects. Being active politically, gives entrepreneurs greater passion, experience and intention which in turn leads to greater opportunity recognition and mediates the relationship between socio-political activism and opportunity recognition.
Originality/value
The model presented in this research is original and helps shape the paradigm within social entrepreneurship in the developing context. The model also provides additional antecedents of opportunity recognition which may assist with shaping future research in the developing context and how the role of political activism assists the field's understanding of how entrepreneurs recognize opportunities.
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The inadequate consideration of how forms of the state variously structure politics is identified as a significant flaw in political opportunity theory. This deficiency leads to…
Abstract
The inadequate consideration of how forms of the state variously structure politics is identified as a significant flaw in political opportunity theory. This deficiency leads to conceptual “stretching” and frustrating contradictions between research findings in the social movement literature. For political opportunities to be correctly specified, differences in the mobilization contexts across democracies and non-democracies must be explicitly addressed. This article suggests how the institutional differences between democracies and non-democracies influence the prospect, form, and impact of social mobilization against the state. It also suggests the crucial role of social networks for mobilization in non-democracies. A reformulation of the research problem and a set of sensitizing propositions based on the theoretical reconceptualization are offered.
Drawing on 61 interviews with Mexican immigrants and ethnographic participant observation conducted over three years, I compare social movement organizing in two cities in one…
Abstract
Drawing on 61 interviews with Mexican immigrants and ethnographic participant observation conducted over three years, I compare social movement organizing in two cities in one California County: one more progressive and the other more repressive. I profile two campaigns waged by Mexican immigrants and their allies in response to two threats posed by police: (1) car impoundments of undocumented, unlicensed drivers’ vehicles and (2) police killings. As political process theory was extended to authoritarian settings, scholars have demonstrated that both growing political opportunity and threat stimulate mobilization. Building on this trend in the literature, this study’s contribution lies in its specification of the relationship among political opportunities, threat, and mobilization tactics. I argue increasing local political opportunity gives rise to more collaborative protest tactics, while relatively more threatening environments yield more confrontational tactics. Because opportunity and threat are not objectively assessed, nor do they automatically inspire protest, I also consider the role of state targets, formalized SMOs, and the influence of coalition partners on tactics. Ethnographic methods are particularly useful for understanding the way organizers and activists, from within organizations that favor distinct tactical repertoires, perceive and attribute threat and opportunity, shedding light on the micro- and meso-level dynamics that shape the social form of mobilization.
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Paul M. Di Gangi, Charn P. McAllister, Jack L. Howard, Jason Bennett Thatcher and Gerald R. Ferris
Political skill has emerged as a concept of interest within the information systems literature to explain individual performance outcomes. The purpose of this paper is to adapt…
Abstract
Purpose
Political skill has emerged as a concept of interest within the information systems literature to explain individual performance outcomes. The purpose of this paper is to adapt political skill to technology-mediated contexts. Specifically, the authors seek to understand political skill's role in shaping microtask workers' opportunity recognition when utilizing online communities in microtask work environments.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors tested their research model using a survey of 348 Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) workers who participate in microtask-related online communities. MTurk is a large, popular microtasking platform used by thousands of microtask workers daily, with several online communities supporting microtask workers.
Findings
Technology-based political skill plays a critical role in shaping the resources microtasking workers rely upon from online communities, including opportunity recognition and knowledge sharing. The ability to develop opportunity recognition positively impacts a microtask worker's ability to leverage online communities for microtask worker performance. Tenure in the community acts as a moderator within the model.
Originality/value
The present study makes several contributions. First, the authors adapt political skill to an online community to account for how microtask workers understand a community's socio-technical environment. Second, the authors demonstrate the antecedent role of political skill for opportunity recognition and knowledge sharing. Third, the authors provide empirical validation of the link between online communities and microtask worker performance.
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Discussions surrounding a lower voting age and its outcomes have been emerging in Canadian public discourse for over a decade. While discussions surrounding a lower voting age…
Abstract
Discussions surrounding a lower voting age and its outcomes have been emerging in Canadian public discourse for over a decade. While discussions surrounding a lower voting age have centred around adults' concerns of young people's maturity, competency and interest in politics the voices of children have frequently been excluded from these conversations. This chapter aims to reinforce a visible sense of child-centred practice in political discourse and spaces. It is important to note that how we come to think about participation can be judged from many different perspectives; however, in this instance, I have had a chance to explore the question through the lens of the young people involved in the Vote 16 Steering Group who identified meaningful participation as a fundamental aspect of the value they saw in the opportunity. This chapter invites us to think about child-centred practice in relation to notions of meaningful participation (meaningfulness) through: (1) the value of the opportunity, (2) understanding change and political efficacy, (3) voice and the vote and (4) political identity.
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Senem Kurt Topuz and Hülya Erkanlı
The purpose of this study is to present a detailed picture of the poverty conditions of women in Turkey in the context of the capability approach. In other words, it is to analyze…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to present a detailed picture of the poverty conditions of women in Turkey in the context of the capability approach. In other words, it is to analyze their perception of how much women in Turkey can benefit from economic opportunities, political freedoms and social opportunities and to what degree they can have protective security services and transparency assurance.
Design/methodology/approach
The field study was conducted in seven cities across Turkey with 741 women. Data from the field study were gathered by using the survey method. A 5-point Likert scale that was developed by the researchers and comprised of 39 statements.
Findings
According to the scale means of the instrumental freedoms obtained from the survey study, it cannot be claimed that women in Turkey have a completely negative perception of all of the instrumental freedoms. However, if the instrumental freedoms are compared to each other, it is seen that the participants have different perceptions of these instrumental freedoms.
Originality/value
This study basically discusses the issues of women's poverty and freedom in Turkey. In this context, the capability approach by Amartya Sen and capability deprivation; in other words, “being deprived of capabilities”, that is prominent in this approach form the basis of the study. The issue of women's poverty in Turkey is dealt with through deprivations in this study in contrast to the poverty conceptualizations through the individuals' income or expenditure levels.
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Christie L. Parris and Heather L. Scheuerman
This paper examines the conditions under which states include sexual orientation as a protected status in hate crime policy over the course of 25 years. Previous research in this…
Abstract
This paper examines the conditions under which states include sexual orientation as a protected status in hate crime policy over the course of 25 years. Previous research in this area has generally focused on the passage of either general hate crime statutes longitudinally or the inclusion of sexual orientation in hate crime legislation via cross-sectional analysis. Moreover, previous work in this area tends to concentrate on two types of factors affecting policy passage: (1) structural factors such as social disorganization and economic vitality, and (2) political characteristics including governor’s political party and the makeup of the state legislature. We argue that a strong LGBT social movement organizational presence may also influence LGBT hate crime policy passage. Using an event history analysis, we test how state-level social movement organizational mobilization, as well as the state-level political context, affect policy passage from 1983 to 2008. Our findings indicate that political opportunities, including political instability and government ideology, matter for the passage of anti-gay hate crime policy. We also find evidence to support political mediation, as the interaction between social movement organizational presence and Democrats in the state legislature affect policy passage.
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